The "independence pact"

[Sunnnyday]

I'm surprised no-one's started a thread on this, so here goes. The leaders of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have signed a Joint Memorandum of Understanding and have called on the UK Government to start preparing for constitutional change.
Listening to the BBC on this, there is currently no majority in favour of splitting from the UK in any of the devolved nations, though Scotland is closer to it than the other two. It's a matter of those who are currently in government being in favour, rather than their populations being in favour. So is this no more than a publicity stunt?
And should any referendum on such a huge issue, which, regardless of your viewpoint, will cause enormous contention, upheaval and disruption over many years, be on a majority vote basis? Have we learnt anything from Brexit?
I'm also confused as to why the leaders of Scotland and Wales are apparently confident that their countries would be swiftly welcomed into the EU, and how they would manage a hard border with England.

What do you mean ‘you’? I’m Scottish, and just like the majority of Scots see the prospect of Indy as being an absolute disaster.

Ah. 12 July mob.

I've said absolutely nothing about my education. I've mentioned that my DC went to school in Scotland - nothing beyond that. You're just making things up.

As you clearly have children who are well into adulthood, if they voted in the 2014 referendum, I assume you had the benefit of a decent education pre-Curriculum for Excellence. Yet you are unable to answer any of the important questions I've asked you about how Scotland would cope on achieving independence (and no, no-one on here is convinced by you saying you just can't be arsed). Here's another opportunity -

What do you consider that, once independent, Scotland would need to do to achieve membership of the EU? And how would you propose that Scotland deal with the issue of the border with England, assuming that England was at that time still outside of the EU as it is now?
If Scotland was not able to obtain membership of the EU, or it took many years (say 10+), how do you think Scotland would get by?
During that period, how would Scotland safeguard its national security in the face of cyber and possibly also physical attacks from other countries? The way things are going, there's a high chance of that happening, especially as Scotland would be very weak, with no real allies.
How would Scotland propose to support the many people who will lose their jobs because of AI?
"Analysis by the Scottish government published in August 2025 found that Scotland’s notional government deficit stood at 11.6% of GDP in 2024/25. That meant that public spending per person in Scotland was around £4,700 higher than tax revenue per person." How do you propose to bring that down? What will you cut, at a time when many will be losing their jobs to AI?

If your children, with their excellent education, would like to answer these questions, why not welcome them onto the thread? It would be great to have a real discussion, rather than the usual childish abuse.

😬

Ah so you have no idea. Gotcha!

I haven’t a clue what this means. Please elaborate. What happened on July 12th?

I d googled it and all it comes up with is something about Northern Ireland, which I think we can all agree has nothing to do with Scotland.

https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/7211237/orange-walk-glasgow-bridgeton-order-parade-lodge/

Membership of the EU also requires the applying country to have the following -
A functioning market economy that can handle competitive pressures and market forces within the EU's single market.
Capacity to maintain price stability, sound public finances, and sustainable macroeconomic conditions.
All members of the Union are propped up financially from Whitehall. though they do not rely on it exclusively.
NI gets 95% of it's funding via the Whitehall Block Grant.
Wales gets 80%
Scotland is the least dependent on this subsidy, getting 60%.
The idea that any one of these countries can be independent and self-funding is a joke.

That is the Anniversary of an annual Protestant celebration held on July 12th in Northern Ireland, commemorating King William III's victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelfth

Also celebrated in Scotland.

Yes, precisely my point. It’s laughable. But these Indy supporters don’t want to hear facts, they want to hear the total bullshit that comes from the likes of John Swinney mouth.

Like last week, when he actually had the audacity to stand up in parliament and say that binning the triple lock would make Scottish pensioners poorer, ignoring the fact that the triple lock is economically unsustainable and every party should be thanking Andy Burnham for being the PM who finally had the balls to stop it, and SCOTLAND WILL GET THEIR SHARE OF THE SAVINGS BACK IN BARNETT CONSEQUENTIALS TO DO WHAT IT WANTS WITH. Want to give that money back to pensioners - feel free. The usual searing duplicitous lies hit a high note there, they really did.

And Liverpool and some parts of Merseyside.

By who? Why did you think I had anything to do with it? Do you think all people in Scotland who are against Indy because of something to do with Northern Ireland? Or do you think they are just intelligent enough to realise what a fucking awful idea it is.

I can assure you that for me it’s the latter. But if there’s something to do with 12th July that’s relevant here please do let me know.

The 12th of July, known as The Twelfth or Orangemen's Day, is celebrated in Scotland primarily by members of the Grand Orange Lodge of Scotland and associated Protestant fraternal organizations, loyalist marching bands, and supporters.

Unionists.

And? Why is this relevant to the question of independence in modern day Scotland?

Are they? I’ll take your word for it. They sounds like wankers though, dredging up irrelevant active history that happened in another place in another time. What’s this got to do with modern Scotland, and the proposed total and utter destruction of it by not very bright Indy supporters who swallow the guff the snp spout about Indy being all sunlit uplands?

Because the Unionists support the Union and are opposed to breaking it up.

And? What’s that got to do with Northern Ireland? Every single ‘unionist’ I know supports remaining part of the UK as to remove itself from the UK would cause immense economic harm that would hit everyone that lives here, but would do most harm to the poorest in society who rely on a functioning welfare state and functioning public services. I don’t know anyone who gives a damn about ancient Irish history, let alone extrapolates that view and applies it to the Scottish Indy debate.